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40 Random Bits of Trivia That Rose From the Ashes of Lesser Factoids

Your brain is giving these facts a whole new lease on life

40 Random Bits of Trivia That Rose From the Ashes of Lesser Factoids

December 31, 2024

New beginnings can be tough. We have no doubt that these facts will be very happy in your brain, just be patient with their transition. They were happy in the wild before we put them in ours brains. It took a little bit to get comfy, but they were happy to be surrounded by other interesting facts. Once we send them over to your brain, it’ll be a whole new place for them to settle into.

All we can tell you is that the more lists of random facts you surround them with, the happier they’ll be.

40

Costco

39

Around the World in a Modified Jeep

Ben Carlin went around the world in a modified jeep. It took ten years, thousands of dollars, and numerous setbacks, but Carlin drove an amphibious ve

38

Aaron Paul

Aaron Paul was hilarious on The Price is Right. In 1999, a lovable ball of energy stormed down to contestant's row, called Bob Barker his idol, and had the audience in hysterics. Не got to the showcase showdown but lost when his bid was only $132 over the retail price. CRACKED — Source

37

Archer

The country album made for fictional character Cheryl on 'Archer' reached #68 on iTunes. CRACKED.COM Bored with the show, the creator wrote a Country music career for Cheryl in season 5 and went so far as to re- cord a full country al- bum named Cherlene. — Source

36

Chefs

Nowadays, chefs are more likely to wear a hairnet than a toque. But some kitchens still follow the time-honored tradition of the toque, and it normall — Source: Escoffier

35

Silly Putty

CRACKED SILLY PUTTY WAS DEVELOPED AS A RUBBER SUBSTITUTE. It was originally thought to be useless until the scientists examining it whipped it out at parties, which were really boring in the 1940s. — Source

34

Rocky III

Mr. T was only supposed to have a small role in 'Rocky III.' CRACKED.COM After being featured on NBC's 'America's Toughest Bouncer,' Sylvester Stal- lone intended to use Mr. T in a minor role, but that was quickly expanded to make him the primary an- tagonist. — Source

33

Archaeology

A skeleton found in a Cheddar, U.K. cave has a relative living half a mile away. The person teaches history & & is nearly 300 generations removed. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 12 Movie & General Knowledge 'Now You Know' Facts

32

Disney

Movie theaters dread working with Disney. Disney exercises a crazy amount of control, down to projector specifications. They don't release the key for the movie until five minutes before the first showing, which doesn't allow for any troubleshooting. CRACKED.COM — Source

31

Phobias

40 Random Bits of Trivia That Rose From the Ashes of Lesser Factoids — Source: Telegraph

30

Idris Elba

IDRIS ELBA PRETENDED TO BE AMERICAN. THE WIRE Elba says his manager told him to pretend to be American because the show's creator, David Simon, only w — Independent

29

Left-Handed People

Left-handed people make up about 11% of the population. CRACKED.COM Left-handed people are generally more creative, imaginative, and intuitive. They also tend to score better in both rhythm and visualization tests. — Source

28

Jogging

Jogging becomes running after 6 mph. CRACKED.COM According to condition- ing coach Mike Antonia- des, jogging means moving at speeds less than 6 mph. Any faster than that, and it's tech- nically running. — Source

27

Superbad

BEHIND-THE-SCENESFACTS SUPERBAD The cast almost included some FREAKS AND GEEKS GRACKED.com In addition to Seth Rogen potentially playng Seth, Jason Segel auditioned for Evan. Martin Starr also read for the part of McLovin. Eventually, all the Freaks actors aged out of the roles. — Mental Floss

26

Moscow Mules

Moscow mules were created by three people trying to get rid of vodka, ginger beer, and copper mugs. CRACKED.COM John Martin purchased Smirnoff in the '30s, but had trouble selling the vodka. His friend, who owned a pub in Hollywood, bemoaned being unable to sell his ginger beer, and another patron said she had too many mugs. — Source

25

Olympus Mons on Mars

Olympus Mons (Mars) Mount Everest CRACKED COM — Source

24

Horton Hears a Who

CRACKED.COM Horton Hears a Who Horton was named after Dr. Seuss' college friend. Seuss thought of naming the elephant Bosco, Osmer, and Humphrey, before settling on the name of his friend Horton Conrad, from Dartmouth College. — Source: Mental Floss

23

Neutron Stars

CRACKED.COM A neutron star's surface gravity is a trillion times greater than the surface gravity on Earth. Everything you drop on a neutron star generates massive kinetic energy To put this into perspective, if you launch a marshmallow into a neutron star it would generate as much impact as a 3-megaton nuclear warhead. — Source: 20 Mind-Blowing Facts That Seem Like Bullsh#t (But Aren't)

22

Jolene

CRACKED.COM Dolly Parton's Jolene was a real woman. Parton kept teasing her husband about a red-headed bank teller who gave him a lot of attention. (Her name wasn't Jolene, though t that name came from a little girl Parton met while signing autographs.) — NPR

21

Whales

Pygmy sperm whales have a reservoir of anal syrup. They release it like a smoke bomb sO they can make their getaway. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED COM

20

Pranks

Historical Pranks JUMPING TO EXPERIENCE LOWER GRAVITY On April 1, 1976, Sir Patrick Moore, an astronomer on BBC Radio 2, tricked people into believing that if they jumped at 9:47 a.m., they would feel the effects of Pluto and Jupiter aligning and temporarily reducing Earth's gravity. CRACKED — Ground Picture/Shutterstock,
NASA images/Shutterstock
Time

19

Depression

Mental disorders lead to physical can health problems. Depressed people have a high level of cortisol, the stress hormone which can increase the risk

18

SNL

GILLY KRISTEN WIIG One inspiration for Wiig's Gilly was a childhood perm she got for a wedding, accidentally tinted red by a bottle of Sun-In. Another — NBC

17

Tsunamis

In 2011, a Japanese hospital admin gave his life to help his co-workers survive a tsunami. 10 OR JOB MIYAKO When the tsunami hit, Shigeru Yokosawa ran back into the building and got a satellite phone, then threw it to a co-worker with seconds to spare. That gave the survivors a way to reach the outside world. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: 13 Movie & General Now-You-Know Facts To Rev Up Your Gray Matter

16

Zebrafish

Zebrafish Larvae CRACKED COM Scientists love the zebrafish because it can regrow its fin, tail, heart, and even brain. They think this offers US useful biological information and is not at all terrifying. — Source: Development

15

Jeopardy!

Leonard Cooper's hilarious answer on Jeopardy! WHO is In 2013's Teen Tournament, Leonard Cooper didn't know the Final Jeopardy answer, but had a healthy enough lead to have some fun. Не wrote, Who is some guy in Normandy but I just won $75,000? CRACKED — Source

14

Inoculation

Onesimus introduced America to inoculation. Onesimus, an enslaved person, shared the traditional African practice, which would go on to save lives and lay the foundation for vaccines. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED COM — Source: The Scientist

13

Myanmar

To get a waiter's attention in Myanmar, you have to make a kissing sound. It's kind of like the sound you'd make to call a cat, and it consists of two or three kisses. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat and Madonna used to date After they broke up, he took back all his paintings and painted over them in black. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED COM — Source: ArtNet

11

Baseball

A US baseball team in the 1910s was made up of death row prisoners. The Wyoming State Peni- tentiary's All Stars had an agreement with their pris- on's baseball-obsessed warden that if they kept winning, their executions would be delayed. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

10

Ghosts Made Me Do It

Myths with real-life consequences Ghosts (the pyromaniac kind) Two teens set fire to a barn in Hanover, Pennsylvania, insisting that it was haunted and a ghost made them do it. They got caught when one of them bragged about it on the bus (no word on what the ghost thought of that). CRACKED — Source

9

HBO

Their original pilot episode of Game of Thrones was so bad that HBO demanded 90% of it be reshot. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the creators of the Game of Thrones TV se- ries, had no prior experi- ence in television and had only limited experience writing movie scripts. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Variety

8

Siblings

Your intelligence wanes depending on how many older siblings you have. While oldest siblings tend to have the highest IQs overall, second borns are smarter than third borns and so on. CRACKED.COM — Source: New York Times

7

American Idol

Anthony Hopkins is a huge fan of American Idol. Не even wanted to turn the show into a movie. In particular, he was a big fan of judges Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson, but for different reasons. Не liked how Randy was fair but upbeat with every contestant. At the same time, he loved how Cowell was so brutally honest. CRACKED.COM — Source

6

The Kanye West Foundation

THE KANYE WEST FOUNDATION GAVE VERY LITTLE. CRACKED Started in 2007 to reduce high-school dropout rates, the charity shut down after it was discovered that, of the $570,000 raised, $0 went to charity. All of the money was used for administrative costs. — The Richest

5

The FBI

CRACKED.COM THE FBI KEPTS FILES ON... MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. The FBI closely monitored and harassed the civil rights activist, going so far to send an anonymous letter (delivered to his wife) attempting to blackmail MLK into killing himself or they would release audiotapes of his sexual indiscretions. Consider that next time the FBI tweets meaningless well wishes on Martin Luther King Day. — Source

4

Lorde

Royals takes aim at the artists Lorde listened to as a kid (Drake, Nicki Minaj, Lana Del Rey.) But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on y

3

Buried Treasure

CRACKED KING ALARIC I'S GOLD It's said that 4th-century Visigoth King Alaric I hid a huge amount of gold somewhere near the city of Cosenza in Southern Italy, but nobody has been able to find it yet - not even the Nazis, who tried really hard. — Grunge

2

New Girl

Prince NEW GIRL CRACKED.COM Prince played himself on an episode of the show New Girl, and demanded that scenes including Khloe Kardashian and Kris Jenner be removed. They were. Reminding the Kardashians that no matter who you are... he's Prince. — Source

1

South Korea

South Korea replaced their guardrails with rolling barriers to protect the lives of motorists during car accidents. When a car suddenly goes off-road

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